Car crash in Scarsdale, NY today: Killed 5 Connecticut children ages 8 to 17 on Hutchinson River Parkway

Scarsdale, New York– Five Connecticut children, ages 8 to 17, were killed in an early morning burning accident on a New York freeway on Sunday, police said.

Police believe the vehicle was being driven by a 16-year-old boy when it turned off the Hutchinson River Parkway in Scarsdale, crashed into a tree and caught fire. A 9-year-old boy, the sixth person in the Nissan Rogue, was the sole survivor, according to a statement from Westchester County Police Department spokesman Kieran O’Leary.

The 9-year-old “apparently drove in the tailgate/cargo area and came out the back,” the statement said. The boy was taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

Four men and one woman are among the five killed. Their identities have not yet been released. Police said they were all from Connecticut.

Matt Conway, the superintendent of schools in Derby, Connecticut, said he learned the children were part of a family that recently moved from New York to the New Haven County community but did not enroll in the county. Conway said he reached out to the father on Sunday and offered to give him information about available community support for him and his family. He wanted to speak to his father again on Monday.

“It’s the unimaginable. Now having to make arrangements for the burial of five of your children is a very difficult thing for anyone — one child, let alone five, that you have to make arrangements for now,” Conway said.

Police said the vehicle crashed around 12:20 a.m. and are being investigated. Derby is approximately 50 miles north of Scarsdale.